Photo credit: World Rowing/Benedict Tufnell
For the second year in succession, the first round of trials for the British National Team is only accepting women’s entries in the single scull. This means that this one trial will contain all three squads: scull, sweep and the lightweights. Twenty seats have already been qualified across these squads and with three more that could potentially join via the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta, there is an unfolding contest for tickets on the Eurostar next summer.
The Favourites: World Champion Quad
One of the shocks of the World Championships came from the British women’s quad. The line-up was a young, dynamic foursome; Lauren Henry was still an under-23 but won the April trials, forcing her way into the squad. Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw were at only their second senior championships and Hannah Scott – the most experienced member of the crew – was only 24. All four of this group are back, looking to turn their world title into an Olympic one and will be wanting to avoid any lightweights or sweep athletes disrupting their sculling supremacy.
The Dark Horse: Emily Ford
Emily Ford and Esme Booth had a very eventful time at the World Championships in September, racing seven times in seven days as they aimed to qualify for the Olympics in both the pair and the eight. This journey was successful as they qualified both boats in a 27-hour period. Despite this success, it is unlikely they repeat this doubling up at the Olympics as the frantic nature of their weeks may have cost them the 1.2 second margin they were away from a bronze medal in their final race of the week. Though principally a sweep athlete, Ford is no stranger to rowing with two blades, having raced in a double scull at the Junior World Championships in 2012. Since then she has been a stalwart of the British squad and will be wanting to add to the Olympic vest she earned in Tokyo, ideally with a medal to go alongside.
The Rising Star: Liv Bates
In the dying embers of lightweight rowing, Britain has developed a phenomenal cohort of women’s lightweight scullers. Emily Craig, Imogen Grant and Maddie Arlett have been undefeated in the lightweight double this Olympiad. But one of the revelations of last season was Liv Bates. After securing a pair of bronze medals in the two World Cups she entered, COVID-19 unfortunately stunted her first ever senior championships. With only two seats for lightweights available in Paris, it will be a tough task for Bates to break the dominant pairing of Grant and Craig who are arguably the closest version of a sure thing Team GB have. Bates will be desperate to prove that she deserves a spot in this crew or will be looking to push both the lightweights and the openweights as hard as she can to get the best results for the whole squad.
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